Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Paul spent
the winter of A.D. 56-57 in Corinth. There he wrote the Epistle to the Romans
and sent it by Phoebe (16:1-2) to the Roman church

PURPOSES FOR WRITING THE BOOK

Paul
wrote this epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for several
reasons. He wanted to prepare the way for his intended visit to the church
(15:22-24). He evidently hoped that Rome would become a base of operations and
support for his pioneer missionary work in Spain and the western portions of
the empire that he had not yet evangelized. His full exposition of the
gospel in this letter would have provided a solid foundation for their
participation in this mission.

As
Paul looked forward to returning to Jerusalem between his departure from
Corinth and his arrival in Rome, he was aware of the danger he faced (15:31).
He may have written the exhaustive exposition of the gospel that we have in
Romans to set forth his teaching in case he did not reach Rome. From Rome his
doctrine could then go out to the rest of the empire as others preached it. Paul
may have viewed Romans as his legacy to the church, his last will and
testament.

Another reason for writing Romans was undoubtedly Paul's desire to
minister to the spiritual needs of the Christians in Rome even though they were
in good spiritual condition (15:14-16). The common problems of all the early
churches were dangers to the Roman church as well. These difficulties included
internal conflicts, mainly between Jewish and Gentile believers, and external
threats from false teachers. Paul gave both ofthese potential problems attention in this epistle (15:1-8;
16:17-20).

Paul
also wrote Romans as he did because he was at a transition point in his
ministry, as he mentioned at the end of chapter 15. His ministry in the Aegean
region was solid enough that he planned to leave it and move farther west into
new virgin missionary territory. Before he did that, he planned to visit
Jerusalem, where he realized he would be in danger. Probably, therefore, Paul wrote Romans as he did to leave a full
exposition of the gospel in good hands if his ministry ended prematurely in
Jerusalem.

The great contribution of this letter to the body of New
Testament inspired revelation is its reasoned explanation of how God's
righteousness can become man's possession

VALUE

The
Epistle to the Romans is, by popular consent, the greatest of Paul's writings.
William Tyndale, the great English reformer and translator, referred to Romans
as "the principle and most excellent part of the New Testament." He
went on to say the following in his prologue to Romans that he wrote in the
1534 edition of his English New Testament.

"No man verily can read it too oft or study
it too well; for the more it is studied the easier it is, the more it is chewed
the pleasanter it is, and the more deeply it is searched the preciouser things
are found in it, so great treasures of spiritual things lieth hid
therein."

Martin Luther wrote the following
commendation of this epistle. "[Romans] is worthy not only that every
Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it
every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too
much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the
better it tastes."

OBJECTIVES
IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER

1)To
be impressed with the all-sufficiency of the gospel

This
first sentence (vv. 1-7) implicitly sets forth the most fundamental facts of Christianity.
In particular, it shows that the main facts of the gospel fulfill Old Testament
predictions.